(139) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
RIN 0651-AB04
[Docket No. 000308064-1028-02]
Rules to Implement Optional Inter Partes Reexamination
Proceedings: Delay of Effective Date
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule; delay of effective date.
SUMMARY: In accordance with the memorandum of January
20, 2001, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff,
entitled "Regulatory Review Plan," published in the Federal
Register on January 24, 2001, this action temporarily delays for 60
days the effective date of the rule entitled Rules to Implement
Optional Inter Partes Reexamination Proceedings, published in the
Federal Register on December 7, 2000, at 65 FR 76756. That final rule
implements the optional inter partes reexamination provisions of the
American Inventors Protection Act of 1999.
DATES: The effective date of the Rules to Implement
Optional Inter Partes Reexamination Proceedings, published in the
Federal Register on December 7, 2000, at 65 FR 76756, is delayed for 60
days, from February 5, 2001 to a new effective date of April 6, 2001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth M. Schor or
Gerald A. Dost, Senior Legal Advisors. Kenneth M. Schor and Gerald A.
Dost may be contacted by telephone at (703) 305-1616.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The effective date of the
final rule to implement the optional inter partes reexamination
provisions of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999, entitled
Rules to Implement Optional Inter Partes Reexamination Proceedings, and
published in the Federal Register on December 7, 2000, at 65 FR 76756,
is temporarily delayed from February 5, 2001 until April 6, 2001. To
the extent that 5 U.S.C. section 553 applies to this action, it is
exempt from notice and comment because it constitutes a rule of
procedure under 5 U.S.C. section 553(b)(A). Alternatively, the
agency's implementation of this rule without opportunity for public
comment, effective immediately upon publication in the Federal
Register, is based on the good cause exceptions in 5 U.S.C. section
553(b)(B) and 553(d)(3), in that seeking public comment is
impracticable, unnecessary and contrary to the public interest. The
temporary 60-day delay in effective date is necessary to give
Department officials the opportunity for further review and
consideration of new regulations, consistent with the Assistant to the
President's memorandum of January 20, 2001. Given the imminence of the
effective date, seeking prior public comment on this temporary delay
would have been impractical, as well as contrary to the public interest
in the orderly promulgation and implementation of regulations.
Feb. 6, 2001 NICHOLAS P. GODICI
Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for
Intellectual Property and Director of the
United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1244 OG 14]